The best father a girl could wish for
by LogicalPremise
Summary: Liara's discussion with Matriarch Aethyta, in full. FShep/Liara, bits and pieces. M for some racy , dirty language.
1. Chapter 1 : To the bar!

**A/N: **_I'm in the process of getting the feel of the dialogue correct, and once that is done I'll probably add a bit more detail. Right now I'm mostly trying to figure out how to link all the pieces of what you hear in game into a meaningful conversation. Probably once I'm done, I'll do a couple of chapters on how they follow things up. Thank you to those who have taken time to review :)  
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Liara sat back at the table overlooking the open arc of the Presidium Ring, her mind only half on the datapad in front of her. A glass of water, half empty, sat to her left, and Liara paused to take another sip as she sat lost in thought, pondering on how to best to use the forces available to her, while taking in the almost overwhelming opulence of the ring itself.

_It's all so beautiful, _she thought, _and yet so .. momentary. I wonder if the Protheans would approve of how we have set ourselves up. I wonder if there will ever be a moment to just... relax again._

She gave a small, tired sigh, then the asari's lips quirked into a faint, self-satirical grin as her nimble blue fingers tapped indices of agents on the datapad. _I can relax with Shepard later, I suppose. _She paused, making a notation here, a reminder to touch base with an agent there, with part of her mind, while the rest again thought about how bizarre the universe was where a silly girl with a fancy for ancient Prothean history could end up sitting in the Citadel determining if hardened mercenaries would live or die.

Liara looked out again over the ring, taking in the computer generated "sky", the tiers of ranked, gleaming bone-white offices and plazas, emblazoned with the blazing green and yellows of Earth vegetation. She was never quite used to the bizzarity of how the Presidium changed up what plantlife was utilized, the calm grey-green grasses and black-flowering vine trees of Sur'kesh having given way to the armored behemoths of Terran plantlife.

As she approved orders for agents to assassinate a Cerberus agent running a smuggling ring on Illum to see if he had contacts worth pursuing, she pondered what kind of world needed trees with armored skin. Even as she did so, she heard a voice in the distance, smoky and hard yet infinitely patient. Liara set down her pad and arched her back , stretching a bit as she leaned back to take in the form of the woman stepping down the little terrace and onto the patio. Again her lips curled into a helpless smile, as they always did when the woman she loved came into view.

Sara Shepard was not a big woman, whipcord thin and yet firm with taut muscle. She moved like a stalking tiger even when at ease on the Citadel, her severely pressed Alliance dress blues in perfect shape, creased edges and gleaming gold-work glinting briefly as she moved to sit next to Liara at the table. Her hair was a mass of long black silk, cut into bangs that framed her stern, icy features. Slightly slanted eyes took in Liara's own, their blue like ancient ice under a storm-blackened sky, her skin a dark tanned brown that only enhanced her angular features...

"Liara?"

With a small, embarrassed cough, Liara straightened. She had gotten caught up in just ... falling into Shepard's eyes again. "I'm .. fine, Shepard. Just a little tired. I've been reviewing my assets to see if we can't catch Cerberus off guard before they do something else .. appalling." Liara's eyes shut as she remembered the shrieks of a poor human boy on Grissom Academy being dragged off to some grisly doom, and being unable to save him. Shepard nodded, a strange smile on her lips. "I'm sure you are tired, Liara. You push yourself too hard...but if you have a moment..." The sentence ended in a hesitant question, unusual for Sara who was so direct and blunt most times. Liara smiled.

"Of course, Shepard."

With an almost grim inhalation, Shepard casually nodded her head over her shoulder to her left, indicating the nearby bar. It was lightly trafficked, only the proprietor and an older asari woman tending it. Liara suppressed a sigh, knowing what was coming. "That .. bartender over there?"

Liara lifted her chin slightly. "You mean, the matriarch hired by the asari government to .. track my movements?" Her eyes did not flicker as she stared at Shepard for a moment, as if daring her to her part, Shepard merely tightened her lips and said, bluntly, "She's your father." Liara gave a small movement with her hands, setting them before her and looked away, and then spoke, calmly. "I know".

With a small, grumpy sounding huff , Shepard sat back, eyes cool yet amused. "Of course you do. What was I thinking? It's just no fun being around you sometimes, Doctor T'soni." She smiles a bit, then the smile slips from her face like a falling veil, revealing concern and worry.

"But if you knew..." Shepard's voice trailed off, memories stirring unbidden. Never having known her own parents in the wreckage that passed for her youth on Earth, she wondered what it must be like to lose one and ignore the other. What kind of ... mind, of society, would allow such a thing. _And what kind of "father" would let her own child go a century without trying to get back into her life? _Shaking her head, she fixed her gaze on Liara, who merely looked away yet again.

"I haven't confronted her because I fear if I do , the matriarchs will simply replace her with someone less...sympathetic". Liara's voice trailed off almost weakly at the end, but her mouth formed a firm line as she directed her eyes back to the datapad.

Shepard frowned. "Liara..." Her voice was almost cajoling, almost grumpy, almost...Liara could not place the tone. Humans had so much emotional nuance sometimes. Liara glanced up at her lover and saw the downward set of her eyebrows, and huffed. "All right!" Laying the pad down on the table, she walked across the plaza towards the bar.

Almost immediately, her mouth went dry, and she nervously bit her lip as she got closer. There were many reasons why Liara had never approached this figure. It had not taken long for her to figure out that the matriarch was her father...and in every situation, Liara supposed the reason that Aethyta never contacted, her never reached out to her is that she never wanted Liara in her life.

Only a few feet left. Liara tightened her jaw. _I took down the Shadow Broker and Saren. I am the Shadow Broker now. I have seen Reapers die, and crossed the galaxy. I am not a silly little girl playing at archeology any more._

She exhaled, and stepped up to the bar.


	2. Chapter 2 : I need a freaking drink

Matriarch Aethyta glanced up as Liara approached, and closed her eyes silently. _Goddess damn, Shepard, if this doesn't go well … _

Liara sat down firmly on the stool directly in front of her. She looked down at the bar, saying nothing for a moment, the Presidium "sunlight" falling onto her face from an angle, making her look younger, vulnerable. The eyebrow tattoos above each eye were drawn down, unconsciously mirroring the way Shepard looked.

Aethyta waited, taking in the battered white armor and trendy battle-cut lab coat, the nicks and scars on the surface of the armor, and then Liara looked up, eyes wide and blue and … it was as if Benezia herself was staring at her.

"H..hi". Liara's voice was almost shaky for a moment, and delicate blue fingers gripped the bar more securely, seeking purchase, stability. A breath. "I suppose you are aware why I am here, Matriarch."

Aethyta snorted, the tiny scales of her skin deforming around the set of her jaw as she bit back a laugh. "You're here because your girlfriend has a fixation on happy endings and little insight into asari culture." _And because she's a stubborn bitch. _

Liara fixed her father with an angry glare, then shrugged, as if letting it go. But her fingers were still gripped tight against the bar. "She can be very .. persuasive in the way she puts things to get what she wants, Matriarch."

Aethyta sighed, and poured herself a glass of pris para, Slamming it back with a faint shudder, she poured herself another. "Mike, I need about 30 minutes to myself here. That alright?"

The human proprietor only nodded. "Yeah, it's quiet anyway. Family?" He nodded politely to Liara. Aethyta nodded as well, giving a tight, empty smile. "Yah. Lemme know if something comes up." Then she turned back to Liara. "Okay, kiddo. So here we are. I don't have any fancy way of saying this where I don't sound like a bitch or a creepy stalker, and having dealt with Shepard's creepy stalker I'd rather not make it sound like that." Her mind took her back for a moment to another bar, on Ilium, and the amusing results of that meeting.

Liara's own mouth twitched. "I .. heard about that. As long as you don't have to shoot me in the foot, I think we can.. can just talk." The last words came out rushed, and Liara bit her lip briefly. _I am not going to become a babbling idiot. Goddess knows I did enough of that before … everything else went to the bottom of the ocean. _

Aethyta nodded. "Alright. So..where should we start?"

Liara's eyes narrowed, and her shoulders straightened. Her spine stiffened, and she stared directly at her sire. "We can start, _father_, with why you never contacted me, and never .. told me who you were, and yet followed me around wherever I went. First Priu, then Ilium, then Cyone, then … "

Aethyta grunted. "Truth? After Nezzy left me, I didn't know what the hell to do with myself. I was...I was never ashamed of you, Liara. I never , ever wanted to be anything but a part of your life. But that wasn't .."

Liara shook her head, almost angrily, the sun glinting off her crests. "No, father. That's not what I mean at all. Why have you been .. following me? If you aren't part of the life I lived before .. things changed... my digs, my work with Serrice, my Prothean researches, why would you be here now? It isn't about me, it was never about me, was it?"

Aethyta swallowed, and eyed the harsh asari drink in her hands ruefully before slamming it back. "No, it wasn't. I was... not honored among the matriarchs like your mother was. My wisdom was dismissed at the time. Hell, I was told I was crazier than a krogan babysitter. And after Nezzy and I went our own way...there was a while where I had nothing to do, a few stupid kids who thought I had a point that went on to shake their asses in some club, and a bunch of hurtful memories."

She looked up at her daughter. "Then you went from just being a kid to being a very dangerous information broker. You did a lot of … questionable things. Your personality changed overnight. Cerberus connections, a drell who was a Shadow Broker agent...there were a few in the Matriarchy who had watched Benezia fall and trusted in her wisdom, and look what that cost us."

Liara stared at her father. "They set you over me to watch me, to make sure I wasn't a danger." Aethyta shrugged. "Come on, you can't blame the matriarchs for keeping an eye on you."

Liara's voice was cold, and yet angry."I am not my mother." Aethyta did not change her tone of voice as she said, "you did threaten to flay someone alive with your mind. You mentioned asari commando units. Hell, you even bought a pin-stripped suit."

The younger asari woman stepped back from the bar, clenching her fists. Ever inch of her was both quietly still and on edge. Aethyta noticed Shepard in the background, pretending to talk to a turian, eyes narrowed. Liara exhaled, then looked back up at her father. "I had to make them take me seriously. I wasn't going to actually do it. " There was a pause, and then Liara frowned." And...you bugged my office on Ilium."

Aethyta just tilted her head slightly. "That'd be the logical conclusion, yeah." Liara said nothing, and her father continued."There were worried you would do something extreme. No one had a clear idea what was going on. And the more involved you got, the more dangerous you seemed. . ."

Liara scoffed, delicate hands making a dismissive motion "A danger to the Asari Matriarchy? Me? I was just an information broker."

Aethyta leaned forward. "No, you were a T'soni, daughter of a powerful matriarch. You were friends and more with Commander Shepard and who knew how much influence you had with humans. You knew Garrus Vakarian, son of the old friend of the Turian Primarch. You knew Tali'Zorah nas Rayna, daughter of the lead Quarian Admiral. You knew Urdnot Wrex, leader of the most powerful Krogan Clan on Tuchanka. Hon, you may not wanna admit it...but for a while there it didn't look like you were just a damned information broker."

Liara shot back , angrily. "So the Matriarchs were going to have me arrested?"

Aethyta shook her head. "No...if you got out of hand, became a danger...or an embarrassment, they were going to have you killed. They asked me to watch you...to determine if you were a danger."


	3. Chapter 3 : Part Krogan?

Aethyta watched as several emotions flitted over Liara's face : rage, fear, amusement, worry. Then her eyes hardened in a very familiar way. _Hah, she looks just like Benezia did when she gets angry..._

Liara's voice was calm, but hard. "I see. I suppose I should be flattered that the Matriarchy feels the need to defend itself from one archeologist turned dabbler in information. I suppose I am to amend my wicked ways, make some – " Liara was cut off in her increasingly bitter tone by her father.

"No, Liara, you aren't gonna have to ... do anything. I just watch. I wasn't about to allow anyone to kill you or try to kill you. It's just something that had to be done." Aethyta glanced around – Shepard was on the second level balcony, laughing at something a volus had said, but was now walking down the stairs need to them. She exhaled. "The matriarchs aren't gonna do anything to you, especially in the middle of this damn war."

Liara gave a small moue of distaste, lips twisting as she finally drank from her glass. "Of course they aren't. They never do anything. They didn't bother trying to stop …. my mother...or Saren. And my reports don't show much activity from the asari military against the Reapers."

Aethyta shrugged, breaking eye contact with her child, and idly picked up a rag to wipe the smooth-worn surface of the bar. With an edge in her voice, she replied. "Come on, you know how asari work. Infiltration and sabotage."

Liara simply rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hand, wincing in stress. Her own voice was low, almost defeated sounding. "But against Reaper forces, that's..." She paused, and Aethyta nodded grimly. "I know. About as useful as tits on a hanar. Good thing we've got the turians and krogan to do the heavy lifting. Our people just aren't built for the front ranks."

Liara looked up, frowning. "I .. I don't believe that. We could do a lot more than we are doing. We could use our influence in a lot of ways if so many of us weren't..." She flushed, almost angrily, and Aethyta snorted. "Shaking our asses, whoring around, or getting high on red sand? You're talking to the wrong matriarch, honey. I made that point for years, those idiots on Thessia couldn't give two shits. Makes me almost wish I'd headbutted Matriarch Sorelya when she decided you needed watching. Hell, at least you're out here doing something."

Liara gave a brief, surprised smile. "And not , as you put it, "shaking my ass" in a bar?" Liara sighed, and folded her hands across each other. "So you watch me so that the Matriarchs don't do something stupid. I'm .. almost touched, father."

Aethyta laughed. "Maybe I'm just stubborn, but I sometimes think I never really fit into the whole image of the Matriarchy, and I can't get where the hell they're coming from. I ain't gonna lie, the whole thing feels stupid. But I can't change what we are, Liara." She sighed. "Maybe it's because I'm too aggressive."

Liara calmly finished her drink. "For a long time, I could not imagine being...aggressive. I never knew... what is the human expression, that I "had it in me?" Aethyta nodded. "You'd be surprised how you can change. Comes down to your background, I say. Who you are, who your parents are...my dad was a krogan."

Liara gave a small, meaningless tilt of her head. "Yes, I'm aware of that."

Aethyta replied with a small smile. "So that makes you a quarter krogan." Liara gave a tiny frown, and sat back slightly on the stool, looking uncomfortable. "That's...not how it works."

Aethyta gave a harsh, almost bitter bark of laughter. "I'm a thousand years old. I've had kids with hanar. Don't tell me how asari reproduction works." She smirked, then saw the slightly stricken expression on her daughter's face.

For her part, Liara was torn between confusion, bemusement, and horror. "Wait...I have a half sister who's part hanar?" Her voice must have revealed some of how she felt, because her father gave her an icy look. "I thought that wasn't how it worked."

Liara said nothing, only staring at her sire, who shrugged. "I was in a bad place at the time. And ya know, your drives don't just stop dead when you become a matriarch. Sings-to-silences-galatic was .. a good person. For a jellyfish."

"Father!"

"I'm just saying, Liara. He was there. And it was .. well, I certainly won't forget it. Not the point, didn't have this get together to brag about how many aliens I fucked on my bar." Aethyta watched in amusement as her daughter's blush deepened and she glanced around to see if anyone was listening. Out of the corner of her eye she did see Shepard standing by the food vending machine, face looking very much like she was trying not to burst into hysterical laughter. _I am going to kill her when I get back to the Normandy...mortifying..._

Aethyta snickered. "Anyway, like I said..not the point. Sirial was like her dad. She was drifty, and kind, and attracted to botany, just like he was, and always polite and thoughtful. But when you pissed her off, she was just like me. She headbutted a turian who was coming on too strong to her in a bar. It's the krogan in her. All I'm saying is that if you feel the urge to headbutt something, it's genetic. "

Liara shook her head. "I have never wanted to headbutt anything." In her mind she tried to imagine it, but the very concept was ridiculous.

Aethyta , on the other hand, was surprised. Given the frustrations her daughter had already endured..."Really? Not even a little bit? Come on." The last was said in near exasperation. _You gotta stop letting people walk all over you..._

Liara's eyes flashed. "I do not headbutt people!"

Aethyta held up her hands placatingly, her tone dry. "All right, fine. Don't go all blood rage on me." She smirked, and Liara scowled blackly. "Or what? You'll tell the other matriarchs to order a hit?"

Aethyta sighed. "Hey. That's not going to happen. You know that. I'm not going to let them. And more importantly, your girlfriend isn't going to let them. And ya know what? There isn't much reason for them to, anyway. You aren't a danger to anyone."

Liara looked away, her voice quiet but … bitter. "I am sure that is also what people told themselves about my mother." She paused. "You n... hmm. I .. I mean, how did you meet?"

Aethyta rubbed her temples with her hands, sighing as if in pain. "At the beach, actually. I was … ha, I was trying to get over the fact that I was a failure as a matron. My family had just come apart around me and I was upset. I thought maybe I needed to be more … like a matriarch, given my age, but I didn't feel like I had a lot of wisdom, just anger."

Liara shrugged. "There are times I have felt...very helpless and angry, I admit. What did you do?"

Aethyta smiled faintly with old memory. "I decided to have a drink and ended up listening to Nezzy argue with some other bitch about our place in the galaxy. I wasn't really thinking when I got involved in the conversation , the other woman was just trumpeting this crap about asari sensuality and I was sick and tired of hearing we're supposed to whore ourselves out to the galaxy for genetics sake."

Liara gave a tiny smile at that. "I .. I always wondered if you were...ashamed of having a pureblo-"

Aethyta cut her off. "Don't use that fucking word around me. Goddess damn, I get so angry when I hear that. I was .. .I was tired of fucking everything that didn't even LOOK like an asari. Didn't want to. I wanted to wake up to a face that looked at least half like my own, instead of a blob, or get cut up in sex from talons, or have to … never mind. Not the point. Nezzy and I just started talking and .. clicked, I guess. I was fire and she was water. Nezzy and I were together for more than a century. "

Liara smiled again as Aethyta closed her eyes. "You loved her."

Aethyta opened them again, as if surprised. "Course I loved her. She was so smart. Always thinking. Nice, too. Hell of a lot nicer than I am. And damn, that rack. I mean, even before she hit the matriarch stage..." her voice trailed off but she did give a long, low whistle.

Liara flushed. "You don't need to tell me everything." Aethyta gave a snort. "Says the girl banging the woman half the galaxy wants to sleep with."

Liara exhaled, almost shakily, and glanced around. Shepard was over by the turian general again, this time gesticulating wildly. "I know. I sometimes don't believe it myself, how much we've... gone through, endured..."

Aethyta hesitated before reaching out to touch Liara's hand. "Hey, kiddo. I don't think you need to worry about that. She loves you, I can see that. Probably more than you or she realizes."

Liara nodded, but her eyes were still drawn. "I know that she values our time together, but – "

Aethyta sighed and frowned. "That's not what I said, girl. I said she **loves** you. Don't be a damned idiot and ignore that. She wants you to be happy and she damned near threatened to kill me if I hurt you or let the matriarch's hurt you. "

Liara's eyes softened, although not really at Aethyta. "I just...worry. I don't even know why.. she is attentive...stop smirking, father...and listens..as much as she can."

Aethyta sighed."Nezzy was the only one who ever listened to me when I said the asari were stuck in the past. Only difference was, I wanted us to stand on our own. She wanted alliances with the other species."

Liara nodded, thinking to herself how hard it must have been to have only one person believe in you. She and Shepard knew the pain of that too well. She wondered, though, and frowned "Is that why..." Liara trailed off delicately, and raised an eyebrow.

Aethyta smiled sadly. "Why it ended? Nah. Well, maybe. I don't know. Mostly because she wanted to solve things the smart way. I wanted to fight."

Liara pursed her lips, thinking of the past fights she had been in, and how she had to use her wits. She thought of the cascading plasma rain falling onto the Shadow Broker's body, the explosion of white light and shrugged. "Those aren't mutually exclusive."

Aethyta smirked. "Yeah, I hear you've racked up quite a body count. But then, you are a quarter krogan."

"Now you're doing it on purpose."


	4. Chapter 4 : Of Sheep and Battle Chickens

Shepard sat quietly at Liara's table, lips quirked in amusement as she leaned back into the comfortable chair. She paused to brush a piece of lint off of her uniform, and then tapped out a series of commands on her omni-tool, boosting the gain of the little receiver she had dropped next to the vending machine as she had wandered around Liara and her "father."

Shepard closed her eyes, listening to the two of them lightly banter over krogan heritage and how much that lead to a genetic urge to headbutt things. _Maybe I should explain to Liara the joy of head butting. Especially head butting uppity krogan. Ha. I bet that krogan shaman is still snickering at that. _

Shepard sighed as Liara's discussion turned back to Benezia, and she ran a free hand nervously through her raven locks, feeling frazzled and strangely helpless. She had no idea if this would help or hurt Liara, but although she loved her little blue Prothean expert, Sara Shepard was smart enough to be able to take advice, and the conversation she had with Garrus about this still upset her.

She closed her eyes, remembering. . .

* * *

"Ah, get off of me, I'm fine." Garrus grumbled, sub-harmonics making Sara's chest rattle as his mandibles flickered in a mix of irritation and embarrassment. "I know I'm sexy, but I thought Liara had that covered, I don't need you down here trying to get calibrated." The turian was standing in the dimly lit main battery of the Normandy, the smells of slightly burnt electronics, omni-gel and burning iron dissipated by the sandalwood scent of his best friend as she hugged him.

Shepard broke her hug , doubling over in laughter, and Garrus only smirked. Wiping tears of amusement from her eyes, Sara sat back on the gleaming metallic crate behind her, holding her sides. They had been talking about family, about parents and their ridiculous demands, and seeing Garrus's lost expression when he said he hadn't heard from his own family just broke something inside the commander. She smiled, upbeat, and realized that no matter what, Garrus would never let himself get dragged down if he thought it would hurt her.

Garrus sighed, watching the amusement fade out of Shepard's system. "Talk to me, sheep."

Shepard snorted. "Shut up, battle chicken." She paused, looking at her hands, then clenched them.. . "It's just… I don't know. My parents abandoning me , never caring, sort of made me immune to what a lot of people are going through right now, but Rachel was the mom I never really had. " She shrugged, mind on the social worker who had helped her through the rough early years of her life, and then looked up at Garrus.

"That isn't what's bothering you, Shepard. She's fine, like you said."

Shepard nodded. "I just thought of you and then Liara. I .. I know who her other parent was. I guess she must , too. It was something in the Shadow Broker's files. She was on Illum, and now she's on the Citadel, at a bar near where Li likes to relax. I don't know why. I would like them to talk, but I .. I mean, what if the woman doesn't want Liara in her life, and is just keeping an eye on her to make sure she is okay? What if it's all coincidence? "

Garrus frowned, mandibles slowly flexing downwards as his eyes narrowed, clear blue pupils focusing with hawklike intensity on the suddenly frail looking woman before him. "Shepard, I'm going to say something I probably shouldn't…but that you need to hear."

"Lay it on me, battle chicken. I love bad news."

Garrus sighed. "I know you love Liara. I could see that halfway through our fight with Saren, you two just sort of fell together. It was almost cute. But … neither one of you are any good at actually talking about your issues. She ignores the fact you shot and killed her mom. You ignore that she sold you to Cerberus. You both ignore that you died, that she turned from a nice nerdy girl into a raging psychopathic stalker…"

Shepard flinched, and Garrus continued. "Neither one of you talk about your issues. I know, I've had to pick your sorry asses up when you get all weepy and drunk together and put you in bed. You love and you meld and all that weird asari mind mess, but that's not the same as admitting there's a lot of pain in your relationship. "

Shepard clenched her fists tighter, feeling the tendons in her arms creak. She stared at the decking , at an emergency power cable snaking across the floor, yellow serial numbers on pale grey plastic tubing. "And so what do I do?"

Garrus leaned back. "You need to .. examine the people you are, Sheep. Right now, we don't have a lot of time left. We're all coming apart. This war is too much, the stresses are too much. Everytime I think about that spirits-damn-him Mordin, I want to rip my talons into something out of grief." Garrus paused, and his hands dropped. "You know we aren't … "

Shepard only nodded, mutely. "I've…always known. It's one reason Liara and I never worry about what she'll do when I'm old .. we'll all be dead by then. And if I can stop them…"

Garrus shook his head. "That's just it. This is .. the last chance for a lot of things. Farewells. Apologies. Regrets. Cursing the fact you can't have crazy inter-species sex with your hot turian sniper." Shepard snorted back laughter, and Garrus shrugged. "But most of all…if Liara's other parent is ever going to talk to her, it needs to be now. And if you are ever gonna actually SAY all the things you think don't need to be said, it needs to be now."

The turian placed his taloned hand on his friend's shoulder, and she looked up into his eyes. "You never struck me as the counseling type, Garrus."

He stepped back, making an airy gesture with his hands. "You know, I'm a man of many talents. Badass vigilante, deadly sniper, wonderful mechanic, veteran leader.."

Shepard stood up . "Yeah, yeah, battle chicken."

* * *

Shepard smiled again, and looked over her shoulder at the two asari, who were more calmingly talking now. Maybe Garrus had a point, maybe talking all this out and not just .. letting things sit until it was too late was the best way to look at it. Or maybe she was just grasping at straws.

Liara burst into laughter across the plaza, and Shepard smiled. Maybe it was worth it just to hear that laugh again. _She hasn't laughed like that in .. since the SR1._


	5. Chapter 5 : Little Wing

Aethyta shrugged, putting her rag below the bar and giving a little sigh. "I dunno. From what I heard, you'd have liked to have head-butted the Council a few times, when you were running with your girlfriend chasing Saren."

Liara laughed. "I don't think I have what it takes to be a krogan battle master, but I admit the .. manner in which the Councilors held themselves always puzzled me. But I'd... rather not think about them, honestly." Liara bit her lip, almost nervously, and closed her eyes. "Why... why were you never..."

Aethyta sighed. "Wasn't my choice, let me tell you. I had figured out a long time ago Nezzy was the only person I was … really interested in. And I won't lie, she had a word or three to say about how I lived my life. We argued a lot, talking about force and getting things done , or about using a kind word and leading people towards a better path. But … "

The older asari gave an almost tired, weary sigh, and her fingers traced aimless patterns across the smooth surface of the bar. She looked up with a small smile, eyes dark with old pain. "It was pretty clear she was leaving. I knew it was going to come , one day, and the more she got involved with politics and other races and business, the closer I knew it was to happening. Can't be the wise counselor when you're married."

Liara frowned, puzzled. "Why not? I mean.. by the time one becomes a matriarch, one has usually built and started their own family, had their own offspring..."

Her father snorted, half amusement, half scorn. "Ah , I wish I was so damned clean these days, not to have a thousand years of bad memories cluttering up the old brain. The answer, little one, is sex appeal. Most species only pay attention if they want to have sex with you. So you have to be available..." She shrugged, a small twisted smile crossing her face, and glanced over to where Shepard sat, 20 feet away, playing with her omni-tool, before sliding her gaze back to Liara..." mysterious..."

Liara gave a tiny little start and blushed. "T..that is not true! Shepard listens to me!"

Aethyta laughed. "Oh, hell, I'm sure she does." She leaned forward, voice dropping. "And just how many times have you thrown her hot little ass on the bed and peeled her out of that uniform, mm?"

Liara's face flushed a darker shade of blue, fingers trembling. "Do you have to make it sound so... " she paused, searching for a word, and then threw up her hands in frustration. "...tawdry?" This only served to amuse the matriarch further, as she poured herself another glass of drink , this one batarian ale, delicate green liquid cascading into the glass in her hand. "If it's all civilized..." her voiced hardened a bit.. "you're not doing it right."

Liara only looked at her sire, who shrugged and slugged back the drink. "I'm not just sayin' that to be a dirty old bar-slut , Liara. You know how other races look at asari, and you know that's part of why we have the power we do. I don't like it sometimes, and neither should you... but when you're in a place in your life where you can enjoy it, don't hold yourself back, girl." She gave a small sigh. "Especially now. Throw her down, lick her nipples raw, make her scream your name and then go between her legs until she can't walk. It's a lot more fun digging for treasure there than in the ground."

Liara only shook her head, completely mortified. "What we have is .. emotional and..."

Aethyta snorted. "Honey, you ain't telling me anything I don't know. What you have is put together over what, less than a year total? A month or two of rutting back in the day, and what, a couple of days on Ilium, and a few weeks since she got out of the slammer on Earth?" Aethyta placed both hands on the bar. "I know you love her. I can tell she loves you, like I said. But I can also tell there's a lot of pain there, just looking at her, and at you. And I don't have to tell you that a lot of men, women, asari, hell probably turians and krogan would love to get her pants."

She leaned back. "Sex is how the Asari have always cemented themselves into power, from Matriarch Lidanya fucking her way to the Destiny A to Aria sleeping her way to Queen of Omega. You can love her until you start singing damned drell poetry, but you drive her crazy in the sack and you can wrap her around your finger."

Liara looked away. "I... am not doubting that is true. I have seen, unhappily, far too many asari doing just that , using their bodies as currency." Liara swallowed. "But while I have had to do a great many unsavory, unhappy things.. there are times I feel as lost, as confused and as hopeless as I did on the Normandy. I can't just be a... a fling, a warm body to her sexual appetite, I want to be.. more."

Aethyta gave a gentle smile. "I wish I could have made Nezzy feel the same way about me. I guess I was too forward for that. I didn't do a lot of crazy running around as a maiden, and I was making up for lost time with her. " She sighed.

"Anyway..you didn't want to know about all that. Bottom line, not too long after you were born, it got very hard for us to … stay together. She never .. didn't want you, never said anything about how people would look at her for having a daughter with another asari, never used that .. filthy word..."

Liara nodded. "She was not ashamed of having a pureblood child."

Her father pointed a stubby finger at her. "I warned you about that word. Don't use it." With a sigh, she drained her glass completely , and glanced out over the Presidium, seeing things in the filtering light that were shades of times long gone. "You were so … small and tiny, so full of life. I wanted to be there, but we were arguing all the time...and I could see that having me around would be detrimental to what she wanted to achieve as a matriarch. I was holding her back, kiddo. And I would never, ever want to do that."

She closed her eyes, and her hand hesitantly fell over Liara's. "So I … left. I went on my unhappy damned way. Even then I could see how much she loved you, how much she cared. She was so protective of you, never would let you out of her sight, even for a moment at times. One of the last big arguments we had was how you were going to grow up – she had plans for schools, training. . . she wanted to groom you for her plans to save the asari damn near before your crest separated."

With a sigh, Aethyta looked up at Liara. "Maybe that's what did us in, at the end there. I wasn't about to sit there and let her make you some kind of … drone. We had a difference of opinion that no amount of love was going to patch up. But I got my way, in the end. I made her promise to let you go your own way, though. No matter what she wanted."

Liara was stunned. Her mother had always pushed her towards politics, towards learning about the future, other races...but she had never, ever demanded anything of her. "Really?"

Aethyta smiled. "I knew you'd be special, kid. Any daughter of hers... I told her "You're treating her like a baby bird, Nezzy, but she's going to raise one hell of a storm with those little wings."  
Liara's eyes softened with old, unhealed pains, and her jaw trembled. "L..little wing?" Her voice was almost broken, as a tear spilled down her cheeks. The memory of snow and ice covered floors, slick with condensation and spilled asari blood, the smell of geth fluid and burned battle armor, watching her mother slip away from her and say...

Liara closed her eyes in agony, as Aethyta leaned forward. "Liara...are you okay?" Her daughter gave a sharp inhale of shaking breath and nodded. "Yes...thanks." She wiped her eyes, almost angrily, and then shook her head. "NO. I .. .it's hard to remember her. All the good times, the walks in the park, visits to the temple...Goddess...I miss.. "

Aethyta wrapped her hand around Liara's squeezing. "It's okay, kiddo. It's better to remember her like that, than as whatever she turned into with that Saren bastard." Her face hardened, and her grip tightened. "I could never forgive her for that, for almost getting you killed by being drug into it..."

Liara shook her head, wetness flying from her cheeks. "No, it... it wasn't her fault. She was trying to stop Saren, guide him as a force of good. But she was indoctrinated. Trapped inside her own mind, fighting to …"

Liara closed her eyes, memories too strong to forget.

"_I... I cannot...go on. You will.. have to stop him, Shepard." Her beautiful black dress spattered with her own blood, a long spatter of it traced across that perfect face. _

_Shepard racing towards her, eyes wide. "Hold on! We've got medi-gel, we can … "_

_Benezia's look of pain tore Liara's heart apart, but she only clutched the horrific wounds in her side tighter, torn blue flesh seeping her life away. "No... he is... still in my mind...I'm not … entirely myself."_

_Her eyes closed. " I … never will be again." Her strength failing as she slumped back to the tank, it's bulk seeming to jar her suddenly fragile frame. _

"_Mother!"_

_Benezia smiles one last time, teeth bloody, eyes bright. "Good night, Little Wing...I will … see you again with the .. dawn." Her form slumped lower, seeming to shatter as the tears blinded Liara, swirling and spilling outwards. "No..light...they said...there would be..."_

Aethyta carefully took Liara's hand, squeezing again, and Liara's eyes opened. Her father's voice was low, guarded. "Look, I heard stories about the Reapers messing with your head...

Liara shook her head, half angry half tired. "They're more than stories. I've seen it. Every Cerberus soldier is a Reaper slave. She fought it with **every** fiber of her being. She even broke free and helped Shepard on Noveria before she died." Liara gave a trembling little shake. "She said it was like beating your hands on glass, watching what your body was doing. .. and not being able to stop it."

There was silence, for a time, father and daughter merely clinging to each others outstretched hands, pain of two different kinds mixing and blending ...and being let go. Aethyta's voice was unsteady and shaken when she finally spoke, slowly.

"All this time I'd blamed Nezzy for it. Thousand years old, and I still don't know crap." A squeze of the hands, before Aethyta lets go. "Thanks for telling me."


	6. Chapter 6 : Headbutt

**A/N: **_Well, the official stuff is over with. Probably one more chapter to wrap up a few things. I may do another , longer story after this, probably a semi-AU. It's more fun than I expected. _

* * *

Aethyta gave another quiet sigh, and wiped at her eyes. "... well, I'm still here. And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, Liara." The crowds around the plaza were almost gone now, a few shuttles and sky cars cutting lazily across the Presidium sky, the artificial winds sending the oaks to rustling furtively. Shepard was still off by herself, fixated on her omni-tool, her dark hari falling around her face like a veil.

Liara smiled, faintly, and gave a small, careful nod. "I … I am glad of that. I will remain in contact, I promise." As if freed, her hands finally left the bar, and she rubbed her fingers, as if they hurt from the tension. "I just … worry. The Citadel isn't safe, I fear."

Aethyta only smirked. "I can handle myself. Like I told your girlfriend, I'm not a commando, but I've been around a long time and I am not about to let myself get taken out without a fight. I'm more worried about you, to be honest."

Liara tilted her head. "Why?"

Aethyta's jaw tightened, and her eyes flicked to the ground. "Look … I've been watching a long time. I had to watch you go to pieces over Shepard, and I watched you crying in that apartment of yours every night for a year. I watched you go cold, dark and angry, willing to kill anyone who got in your way, use anyone, anything, to get back at the Shadow Broker. And … when you vanished, and no one knew where you were for months, I worried. That maybe you had been taken out."

Liara only shook her head, saying nothing. Aethyta merely shrugged and continued. "And when they arrested Shepard and you came back to Ilium for a week, got your things out of your apartment.. you were a wreck then, too."

Liara began to say something, then fell silent, her eyes closing. "I don't know … what to do without her. I feel so... "

Aethyta only nodded. "I don't have a good idea what you're doing now, to be honest. I know you were working with the Alliance, but you seem to have stopped doing the information broker thing almost entirely. The Matriarchy mostly decided that you had .. worked out whatever the hell issues you were doing, but I know better. You're driven, and you're hurting. "

Liara exhaled. "I am .. " Liara paused, and pulled a slender silver disc out of her armor. Aethyta recognized it as a signal scrambler with a tiny mass generator, something that would disrupt sound waves and jam spy beams and the like. Liara then leaned forward, until she was almost face to face with her sire.

"... I .. I k.. .we killed the .. one responsible for my loss. And I took his place."

Aethyta nearly staggered back, blanching, eyes wide. She could feel her own heartbeat as it thudded in her suddenly weary chest, and she had to concentrate to keep from flaring biotically. _Goddess and Guides protect us... she's the fucking Shadow Broker!_

The matriarch's hands shook for a moment, and she just placed them behind her, almost defensively. "That...is a big shock , to take in all at once. Does … of course she knows."

Liara nodded, and picked up her jammer unit. "Only a very few people know. None of the … employees. I run everything from Shepard's ship now. It's the...safest place for me. For my.. needs. But it is … hard, father. The amount of … influence and the costs are almost too much to bear."

Aethyta frowned. "Then walk away, daughter. That kind of power only leads to darkness, and corruption, and losing sight of everything. You still have your whole life before you-"

Liara gave a small, almost sad smile. Aethyta just trailed off, knowing, as Liara spoke quietly. "Father...we both know that surviving...all of this isn't going to happen. I trust Shepard. She'll save us, she'll stop them. But I don't expect her to survive … and I have no wish, or desire to live in a world without her. Nor the … strength. I do this because it helps her mission, because I make her stronger." Liara clenched her fists, tears leaking from her eyes. "I would do … anything. Anything she asked of me. Murder, even. I don't … care. I can't even … goddess, the things I've done, the pain, the loss, the.. "

Aethyta reached out and pulled her child into a tight, fierce embrace, feeling Liara's frame shake as she did so. Even so, Liara's words tumbled out, whispered, broken. "... I can't bear what I am, what I've done to her. I gave her to the same people that are making humans into slaves for the Reapers! I gave Cerberus her shattered _body_ after she **died** so they could bring her back to life...knowing that they might do something horrible to her, with her...just for a chance to hear her voice again. I nearly lost her trying to get … revenge! She's … she is all I have left, all my happiness and pain and longing and... "

Liara exhaled, and wiped her eyes, tears smearing across her face. Aethyta squeezed her shoulder, and then held her out at arms length.

"You know better, child. You never gave up before. You didn't give up on your dreams, when Nezzy wanted you to be like her. You never gave up on your research, when no one paid attention to your papers and your books. "Liara looked up in shock, eyes still full of tears but wide, and her father smiled. "I bought everything you wrote. You never, ever gave up, even when you had to chase Saren down and kill the bastard for what he did to our Nezzy. You never gave up when no one listened to Shepard."

Aethyta squeezed tighter, her own voice unsteady. "If you had not done what you did, hadn't had the faith, the strength to go on... Shepard would still be dead. If you didn't give her a reason to keep fighting, to want to make it, would any of us be here? No, kiddo, I didn't raise a coward, or a quitter. Fuck what anyone else things or says, my daughter is the best damned child a parent – any parent – could wish for, and I'm proud of you. I always have been, and I always will be. And you are going to make it through this Reaper bullshit, and love your girlfriend until you bring me back a granddaughter, and we are going to laugh about this over drinks on Thessia." She gave Liara a little shake, fierce. "You hear me?"

Liara swallowed and smiled. "Yes, dad." She looked up, biting her lip, and then hugged Aethyta again. "I... I guess I just needed to hear it."

Aethyta snorted. "That's what father's are for. And...you are stubborn. Comes from being part krogan." Liara laughed, and then very gently butted her head against her father's, as she smiled. "Now you're getting the hang of it."

Liara nodded and pulled away. "I.. I need... I should head back to the ship. We need to head to deal with the quarians, soon."

Aethyta snorts. "Figures. I hope they haven't done something else stupid. They're good people, at least they were when I was young. The men are hot." She smirked at Liara, who just shook her head in amusement. "Old enough to remember what they look like under those suits.. sad really. They gave us a run for our money in the sexiest race in the galaxy department."

Liara snorted herself. "I'll pass that along to our quarian friend, if we meet her again."

Aethyta smiled, and then turned way, holding up a hand. She picked up a slate-grey flask from the bar-top, and then a decanter made of shimmering red crystal, and poured out an amount of highly expensive Thessian rosewine into the flask. With a smirk, Aethyta handed the flask to her child. "Drink this and lift your chin up when things get bad, and … just take care of yourself out there, okay kid?"

Liara glanced at the potent drink with amusement. Taken by a sudden impulse, she carefully took a swallow, feeling the icy liquid fire race down her throat, and recapped it. "I will... Dad."

Aethyta exhaled, and clentched both fists, as if unwilling to watch her go, but her voice was..calm. Almost too quiet. She tapped her omnitool, the haptic interface coming up over her left arm, as she spoke. "Hey, I've called a few … friends. Commandos. Eclipse girls who owe me some favors. They're all yours. Just ...tell 'em where to go."

Liara said nothing for a moment, then in a hesitant voice that sounded far too young... "You're giving me...asari commandos?"

Aethyta stepped back, pouring herself another glass of ale and slinging her rag over her shoulder. "Well, you're too old for me to buy you a damn pony."

Liara laughed, and smiled. "You're the best father a girl could wish for."

* * *

At the far end of the plaza, Shepard killed her omni-tool feed, tears running down her face, before wiping her eyes and tapping her private com. "You were right, battle chicken."

Garrus's voice sounded smug, she could almost see his mandibles flaring into that cocky grin. "Of course I was, Sheep. Listen, everything is fine on the ship, and you sound a bit shaky. Don't come back until you've had a drink."

Shepard only nodded. "Yeah. I think I need one. And so does Liara."


	7. Chapter 7 : To the restaurant!

**A/N**: _Not entirely happy with this chapter. May have to rewrite it from scratch, it's missing that spark I need it to convey. This is the final chapter, at least for this little bit. I am definitely considering a follow up to it, with Aethyta during the Citadel invasion, before moving on to my main AU of ME1/ME2. I apologize for not mentioning earlier: Pris Para is referenced from Melaradark's Del Shepard stories , which are far superior to anything I write.  
_

* * *

By the time Liara found Shepard, she was standing by the south end of the plaza, leaning against the railing overlooking the lower Presidium. Holding a leaf in one hand, Sara had a tiny , brittle smile on her face as Liara approached, stepping past a pair of softly crying humans talking about their child.

_Goddess, so much loss, everywhere..._ Despite the beauty and peace of the Presidium, there were times Liara sometimes didn't even step off the ship when it docked, just curling up on her bed. The pain, loss and suffering that suffused the crowds here was sometimes almost too much to endure. But Liara knew now that sometimes pain had to be endured to be able to hold on to what one wanted the most.

Stepping up behind Shepard, Liara wrapped her arms around her lover, feeling the muscles, the tension in her body. She placed her chin on Sara's shoulder, and just stood there for a moment, eyes closed, ignoring everything except the woman in her arms. Shepard gave a little sigh, one part happiness, one part melancholy.

"... how did it go, Li?"

Liara squeezed once, and stepped back, letting Shepard turn around. The human woman's eyes were slightly red, as if she had been crying, but Liara didn't say anything. "It went...better than I thought. The matriarch was quite useful, actually, she has placed a unit of asari commandos under my orders an-"

Shepard frowned. "Liara..." That same sing-song, slightly exasperated voice.

Liara trailed off, then gave a small, almost spastic shrug, a motion she had picked up from humans years ago on the Normandy. "... .she's my father. And... part of me wants to just curl up into a ball and cry and let all the .. pain, the fear, everything go...but we don't have the time for that. We have to focus on what is important."

Shepard nodded, but her hand reached out to Liara's, interlacing her fingers , brown on blue, squeezing. "I know that. And I know it has to be hard to make that connection now, in such a sudden way. But that isn't what I'm asking either."

Liara leaned back against the railing, careful not to free her hand from Shepard's grip. _She is trembling_, Liara realized, and pressed up against her, side by side, just relishing in the simple contact. "I know, Sara. We … talked. She has an unconventional viewpoint on living. I have... a half-sister, it seems. And I'm also a person of interest to the Matriarchy. I do not know how to process all this at once. It is one thing to see it on dry reports, or on intel gathered. It is another to hear it from your own sire."

Shepard scratched her head with her free hand, pushing a lock of hair from her face, eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure I am happy about that. You'd think after all you've done, someone would give you the benefit of the doubt."

Liara tilted her head. "Another human idiom?"

Shepard grinned. "The concept that before judging someone, that their past good deeds should make you hesitate to question their judgment or assume wrongdoing."

Liara snorted, unconsciously channeling her father. "I am afraid the Matriarchy is not very good at understanding the choices people are forced to make, or adapt to the war. We are known for diplomacy and influence and .. relationships, not for battle. Given how long we live compared to other species, it's too easy to not know how to react when change is suddenly thrust on us. There are parts of the Matriarchy still reeling from what my mother did, years later. I fear I will always been seen as a figure of distrust and suspicion...and if they were to know my current .. occupation, that would only get worse."

Shepard shrugged. "Fuck 'em. Useless, the lot of them. Tevos, for all her kind words, never did shit to back me up in the way it counted, she went right along with the idea that I had gone right off my little nut about the Reapers and covered it up with the rest of them. And now we're all paying for it."

Shepard shook her head. "That's...never mind. Look, I am just happy you got to meet your … dad. Things are happening so fast now, and there's just so much going to shit that I wanted you to .. I don't know. Be able to say goodbye? Closure? Does someone who lives a thousand years even need closure?"

Liara squeezed her lover's hand. "Of course we do. I have to believe that we have suffered all of this...pain, and loss, and fear for a reason. I have to believe that sacrifice means something, all of our sacrifices. I have to believe that .." Liara trailed off, then exhaled and straightened her back "...that no matter what, we will win this. I believe in _you, _love. I will always believe in you, no matter what the odds or the cost. That... is what she told me. That I can't give up and just wait for death, that I have to fight."

A pause. "It's … the krogan in me, I suppose."

Shepard only glanced at Liara from the corner of her eyes for a long moment before a wide grin split her features, and a fierce little chuckle escaped her lips. "I already saw you go all Blood Rage on Ilium, after all."

Liara only arched her brow, taking on a serene look. "I was in perfect control of myself."

Shepard giggled. "Says the woman who made Jack say 'and people say I'm a crazy bitch?' , my dear?" She groaned as Liara elbowed her sharply in the ribs, and then wrapped her hand around Liara's wrist. "Come on. Garrus called in with a status report, we're still taking on supplies for the Far Rim run, and we've got some time. I think I need a drink."

Liara followed, her eyes trailing across the plaza to the bar one final time. Aethyta tilted her head, smiling, and made a gesture with one hand, causing Liara to blush furiously. Shepard didn't notice until the Matriarch was out of sight, but paused as they topped the steps. "You okay?"

Liara smiled. "Yes. Just thinking of something my father said. About...how people view the asari."

Shepard pushed her way through two salarians, ignoring their high-speed bickering over something to do with HE3 transfers. "In what way? I mean, to me, asari were always these figures of such... contrasts. Sensual, hedonistic maidens. Stern, family oriented matrons. Mysterious, almost frightening matriarchs. It's daunting to realize your father was your age back when humans were still killing each other with sharpened pieces of metal and thought disease was an evil spirit."

They reached the elevator, past the turian guards, and Shepard punched in her destination as Liara leaned quietly against the cab wall. "And what do you see in me, if I may ask? We never really .. worked that out, on the Normandy in the old days."

Shepard shrugged. "I didn't think we had to analyze falling in love, Liara. It just...happened. Saren, the geth, the melds, the beacon...all the fear and worry and racing against time. It threw us together in a way that most people aren't. You were fascinated and terrified of alienating me, I was too focused and convinced I wasn't worth the time."

Liara nodded, as the doors opened to the ground level of the Presidium. "I know .. what you mean. But my father made the point that we … have a lot of pain in our relationship."

Shepard nodded, almost dancing aside to avoid a shoulder check from a elcor. "Incoherent terror: Please excuse me" it said as it recognized her, making her grin. Liara only rolled her eyes. "Li, I get what you're saying. Garrus said the same thing to me not too long ago. But I don't think it matters. I know I love you, no matter what."

Liara shrugged. "My father thought it mattered. It's … if one views us only based on sex and...how we make others react –"

Shepard made an angry negating slash with her hands, as she headed towards the little restaurant they always went to. "That is NOT why I was or am interested in you. I mean, not the main reason. Shit." The restaurant was quiet, off the main Presidium way, all wood paneling and elegant satins from Sur'Kesh. Tiers of greenery cascaded down along side trilling little waterfalls, and the tables were set into niches along the wall. Gentle polytonal music played, mournful and yet somehow alive.

Liara smirked. "You at least make a girl feel wanted", smiling as she got the rare pleasure of watching Shepard blushing and muttering to herself. "But that isn't what I meant. You took the chance to make me meet my father... to be able to know her, before all of this comes to an .. end. And you were right, despite my reluctance." They stood in the foyer, waiting to be seated.

Shepard nodded, catching the eye of the waiter, who gestured to their usual table. Shepard almost flung herself down, and laced her fingers together tightly. "Alright. But what you are talking about is all over the place, Li. It's one thing to say we need to discuss .. our relationship, another to say all people are only interested in asari for sex and hint that maybe what we have isn't as deep as we think it is."

Liara sighed. "Shepard, I do not think that, either. I just.. it was a hard conversation to have , with her. About mother. About you. About me. About … where this is all going. She feels that no matter how you feel about me that your primary attraction to me is..."

Shepard grits her teeth as the waiter arrives. "Ben, the usual, please." The human waiter bows, and departs a moment later, allowing Sara a moment to unclench her fists and try to find a less angry tone. "Liara, I know Aethyta is a bit of a rough touch. But I am not with you because we do the horizontal tango."

A puzzled look .. "Horizontal... tango?"

Shepard tilted her head. "Because we fuck." Liara flushed, still not comfortable with the sort of crudity both Shepard and her father seemed to embrace so casually. "The truth is, Liara, half of what we have is not something I really .. understand. It's emotions so strong I can't figure them out, and pain and … a lot of things I think we both regret." A long exhale. "But I'm not going to apologize for any of it. And neither should you. If it had happened any other way, we wouldn't be together. And whenever I think about THAT I go all panicky and depressed."

Liara nodded. THAT she understood all too well, nightmares of Shepard's funeral, of watching her burn to a glowing mote through Alchera's atmosphere, of giving her body to Cerberus all too common.

Shepard shrugged. "I know what your dad is saying. I think, at least. When things are bad and pressure is high, people cling to what they know, and they skip past some of what makes a normal relationship work." She sighed, toying with the cuff of her uniform, the gold buttons glinting weakly in the light of the restaurant.

"But at the end of the day, Li, the only reason I can keep myself going is you. I'm a zombie, a dead soul. Ignored , laughed at, sent off to die and then brought back to life by the guy who now thinks huskifying his own troops is a nifty thing to do. Accused of being a race traitor, a terrorist, and crazy. My best friend won't even believe I'm not with Cerberus, even now." A pause. "The only people who believed in me, who … ever believed in me...are a bad turian, a depressed quarian, and a nerdy archeologist."

For a moment Shepard looked so tired, Liara almost wanted to sob, and then her eyes met Liara's, and she smiled, and the strength just flowed through her. "But that's all I need, really, The love of my friends, and the woman I love more than anything. I can't find it in me to save the galaxy for the sake of the innocent, or the lost, or those who sacrificed everything anymore. I do it for **you**."

A longer pause, in which Liara was trembling inside. And then Sara spoke. "And if you weren't there, I think the doubts and pain and fear I have would make me just .. give up. We aren't perfect." Shepard thought back to a quiet, almost philosophical krogan clone she met on Korlus. "We are not perfect, but we know our place."

Liara's voice shook. "And what is my place?" She paused as the waiter brought their drinks, and Sara only smiled. "By my side, no matter what."

Liara gave a long, trembling exhale. "That is all anyone can ask for, I suppose." She picked up her glass, smiling faintly. "To my father." She drank, letting the wine ease down her throat and into her body, trying to relax.

Shepard only watched for a moment before doing the same. "To the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, for staying with me."

"Flatterer."


End file.
